There’s a crisis in our nation which is affecting our most precious commodity — our children. This predicament is especially prevalent in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, affecting more than 30 percent of its youth. These children have a higher incidence of being obese, having behavioral problems, making failing grades, being delinquent, carrying guns, suffering from abuse, committing suicide, becoming an adult abuser, committing rapes, and the list goes on.

In 1960, this disease only affected 8 percent of our children but today it has almost quadrupled. If there was a physical ailment affecting one in three of our children, we would be up in arms, demanding all our nation’s resources be directed at curing this malady. So why aren’t we? The reason is, it has crept into our lives so slowly, so quietly, and so insidiously that we are just now recognizing its effects. I’m talking about the number of children being reared in fatherless homes.

In divorce, courts are more likely to award custody to mothers but in the case of children born to single moms, the child enters the world most often with an absent father. True, children need the nurturing of their mothers, but they also need the role models of their fathers because kids learn some specific things from their fathers that mothers would have a hard time teaching. Sons learn how to treat their girlfriends, other women, and eventually their wives. Daughters learn how they should be treated by their boyfriends, other men, and ultimately their husbands.

So, how do we fix this? According to Joshua A. Krisch, the ‘Father Effect’ is one of the most important areas of child rearing. Fathers that don’t live with their children can write letters, email, and talk on the phone daily. They can be present for as many functions as possible and consistently maintain a congenial relationship with the mother. Facetime, Instagram and other forms of technology are wonderful tools to help connect with one’s children.

Dads that do have the advantage of living in the same home with their children are not off the hook. They, too, must be active in their children’s lives — but it must be positive, or the children fare no better than the fatherless.

So, as we honor fathers on their special day in June, let us remember the prime recipients of good fathers — our children.

Contact Beth Harrison at bethpharrison@gmail.com and on Twitter @Harrison1Beth.